Seven Days
by enefea
Summary: The cure for the apotoxin has been found. All that's left is for Shinichi to tie up loose ends in order to return to life before Conan. He has a week to prepare and, really, what can happen in seven days?


disclaimer: Detective Conan and Magic Kaito belongs to Aoyama Gosho. I, as a fan, can do nothing but worship his greatness.

author's notes: First Detective Conan fic. And I haven't written in a long while. Oh, uhmm... this fic isn't beta'd. Expect some typos and some grammatical mistakes. So, yeah. Sorry, my English language skills aren't that good and I really suck at summaries. Anyway, here it goes. Enjoy.

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**Seven Days **

**| a few Sundays back |**

Kudou Shinichi, no, Edogawa Conan (that was the name that came with his current form) stared at the seemingly harmless, pink-and-white capsule in a small plastic cup sitting on Haibara's desk. Was that it? Was that the cure he'd been waiting for? After nearly three years as Conan, would that finally be the way out?

Haibara had been busy, locked up in her lab recently. She had been forgoing Shounen Tanteidan outings (her excuses running along the lines of 'I'm sorry but I'm not feeling well'), as well as missing classes more than a few times a week (same excuses). And when she did show up, it was always with her looking pale and having dark shadows under her eyes. It also didn't help that she seemed to have lost some weight. It had Ayumi so worried to the point of crying ("Conan-kun, is Ai-chan really alright? Is she… i-is she _sick_?"). Seeing the display from the girl, Genta and Mitsuhiko decided that they should find out what was wrong. They suspected Conan to know why and deemed that he was keeping things from them. So they cornered and threatened him for the real reason behind the female scientist's absences. (Not like the two succeeded. Really. He hadn't been intimidated. Not at all.)

The last time he'd been handed a prototype cure was a few months ago. (He never asked for progress or for an antidote nowadays. He waited until it was given to him. He learned that doing so continuously had severe consequences.) The antidote lasted a little more than five weeks, though the first few days had him down with a cold and the last two weeks of that had him in bed with a fever. Still, he had been feeling hopeful that the cure would come into his hands soon.

And now, here he was in Haibara's lab. He thought that it was going to be another of those antidotes, judging from the tone in her voice when she'd called. But there was also something there that made him believe otherwise. He stared at the capsule again. Was this the real deal? Had Haibara finally figured it all out? He gulped.

"Are you listening, Kudou-kun?" the scientist asked him suddenly, snapping him away from his current thoughts.

"Uh…"

A glare.

"I'm sorry. I just… spaced out. 'The last one', you said. Will this turn me back for good?"

Haibara stared at him for a few moments, hearing the mixture of hope and disbelief in his voice. Conan tried to guess what she was thinking, but it had always been difficult to read the scientist. Finally, she sighed, a strange expression crossing her features. "Yes, and… I'm not sure."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm still not certain if it will permanently counter the effects of the apotoxin in your system," Haibara said in a voice devoid of any emotion while she looked over some papers Conan could barely make any sense of.

"Okay," he said slowly, "then why say that this will be the last one?" Conan thought that that he was imagining things, but did he really see Haibara flinch?

"That is why I wanted to talk to you," she said. Again, Haibara's features where wiped off of anything. And she was avoiding eye contact. Conan started to feel something wrong. True, said scientist could win against anyone he knew in a game of poker (well, there was Kaitou KID, but he'd still bet on Haibara. Not because of the poker face, but on sheer deviousness), but at least she always maintained eye contact when talking about something important she thinks one should know and be aware of.

Suddenly, it all clicked. "Wait. You mean-?"

"Yes," Haibara said, looking at him, "this _will_ be the last one you are ever going to take. There is a chance that this will cure you. But there is also a chance that it won't. It might get rid of the apotoxin completely, but it might also work as the same as the other antidotes you've taken and make you revert back to Conan. However, I don't know when that will happen. It might last weeks, months, or even years. I'm not sure. But if you turn back to Conan, I can no longer help you. As I've said, this would be the last. Your body has suffered greatly from all the changing you've ever done. According to the results from your latest checkup, your body can handle only one more change. More than that, and your life would be at risk."

The female not-child looked at him, expecting some sort of response. She waited, but there was nothing. She didn't want to give him this news. She saw how he had been becoming more hopeful with each time she told him that a prototype cure was available. And even more so when the recent cures lasted longer than the one before. She had also been optimistic with each test. But as she looked over her files and the latest data, she knew that this was it. There was no other chance or other ways around it.

Conan's mind was preoccupied with turning over the scientist's words. There were a lot of implications to what the other said. He knew he should think about them, but he always kept coming back to 'this will cure you'. He was being selective, really. But this was it, his chance to be Shinichi again. (His _only_ chance, his mind supplied, but he didn't bother with it. Shut up, brain!) And if that was so, there were a lot of things he needed to do before Shinichi could appear in the open again. He knew that those things might take a long time to complete, maybe even more than that.

And, really, would Shinichi still be welcomed even if that long time has passed? And as he waited, people would notice Conan grow into Shinichi more and more each day. It won't take people a lot of time to connect the dots. How would he explain that? He knew that if he was to take the antidote, it would be in the near future. It would be dangerous for both him and Haibara, but can he really wait that long? He sighed.

"You know," Haibara said as she straightened the papers that littered her work area, "I'm not saying that you need to take it now. You have some loose ends to tie up, don't you? I only called you here to explain the situation. I know I've been adamant that Shinichi could not appear again until _They_ have been dealt with it. Well, I still think that but I guess I could understand if Shinichi wants to appear again. Still, I know you're shocked and might not be thinking straight right now. Why don't you mull over things a bit for a few days? I will not allow you to take the antidote unless you have thought up some solid plans."

Conan stared and blinked, a wry smile on his lips, "Of course. There's no way I'd forget about that, baa'ro." He shook his head. Haibara was right. There was no point in thinking about all of this right now. It was still dangerous for Shinichi to officially return. Until then, Conan still had a job he needed to do. Still, there was a part of him hoping that that day would come soon.

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a/n: I already have a brief outline for the other chapters, though I'm still not sure about Wednesday and Thursday. Monday is a bit more than halfway done, but I still can't get it right. The problem would be when to update since our internet connection's out of sorts lately. I haven't been online in almost two months. I uploaded this one by using a plug-in broadband-thingie? I'm not really sure what to call it. My brother's been using it and I kinda just stole it from him so…. Uhm pretend I didn't say that. Anyway, the next update might be when I steal this from him again. orz


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